On September 5, The New York Times published an op-ed titled “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration” by an unidentified, but known to the paper, “senior official” who stated that “I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.” He or she, self-identified as a Republican conservative, states that Trump’s “impulses are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic,” that Trump’s “leadership is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective” and “erratic.” The author adds that Trump “shows a preference for autocrats and dictators, such as … Putin … and Kim Jong-un, and displays little genuine appreciation for the ties that bind us to allied, like-minded nations.” He or she concludes that “we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until—one way or another—it’s over.”

On the following day, the news broke that veteran reporter Bob Woodward’s new book Fear: Trump in the White House would be released on September 11. My copy arrived at our local library the next day, and this review was written on September 15.